Netherlands hosts presentation of book-album about Armenian aggression ‘Offside - Football in exile’

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 31 / Trend E. Mehdiyev / The Noorderlicht gallery of paintings of the Dutch city of Groningen hosted an exhibition of photographs of Dutch photographer Dirk-Jan Visser "Offside - Football in exile" and the presentation of the book of the same name. The main objective of the exhibition and presentation of the book lies in the fact that on the example of life stories of Karabakh Agdam and Karabakh Stepanakert football clubs and by the football theme to convey to the world community information about the true nature of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, its historical aspects, the fact of occupation by Armenia of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory as a result of an aggressive policy, the bitter consequences of the occupation, Azerbaijani Embassy to the Netherlands told Trend. Historic photos and maps, presented at the exhibition, reflect the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia in chronological order. The same photos and maps are available in the book "Offside - Football in exile." This book, which highlights the results of an aggressive policy of Armenia, presented a variety of information in Dutch, English, as well as Azerbaijani and Armenian languages. The explanatory documents of the exhibition the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands is described as follows: "In 1994, with the help of the Armenia the region was cut off from Azerbaijan", "so far, this region is not recognized by any state", "thousands of Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani Agdam football club were forced to leave the region after the Karabakh was destroyed by Armenian armed forces", "today the Karabakh Agdam team plays in the Premier League of Azerbaijan", "showing wonderful results in European football in 2009, it met with the Dutch Tvente team in the play-off stage of the Europa League", "Karabakh Stepanakert team continues to lag behind, only the name remained from the club", etc. Dirk-Jan Visser, speaking at the opening ceremony, noted that in addition to Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia has occupied seven surrounding districts, as shown on maps in the exhibition, and also pointed out that about one million Azerbaijanis have been expelled forcibly from their native lands. The ceremony of the official presentation of the book and the exhibition was attended by numerous guests, representatives of local and foreign press, the leadership and residents of a city, fan photographers and bloggers, as well as staff of the Azerbaijani Embassy in the Netherlands, activists of the Azerbaijan diaspora. A press secretary of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the Netherlands, Javid Musayev, praised the open propaganda of the realities of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. "The book itself, and its presentation, as well as the exhibition through specific facts, photographs and other materials gave comparative analysis of football teams of Azerbaijan and the Armenian aggressors of the same name. Thus, despite the fact that the Karabakh Agdam football club as a result of the Armenian occupation lost its football field, it proved himself enough in the world of international football and football games' history, carried out between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands, scoring two goals against famous Tvente team, became famous in the Netherlands as the Azerbaijan football club. But nobody knows about the "club" called by aggressors as "Karabakh", it does not participate in any international tournament. Success of Azerbaijani Karabakh Agdam club once again confirms that in the international arena, in particular among the sports community, the word "Karabakh" is directly related to Azerbaijan," Musayev added. Armenian aggressors in all spheres of development, in the words of sports commentators, have always been in offside, that is out of the game, while successes of Azerbaijan show who is really the winner and who is already isolated and who will be the loser in the future, he said. The exhibition will run until July 8. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az